The training device of the present invention is particularly useful with the family of musical instruments known as the brass family. Such instruments include, but are not limited to, the trumpet, trombone, tuba, euphonium, cornet, flugelhorn and French horn. All such instruments have in common a mouthpiece of roughly the same shape with varying dimensions to match the size of the instrument's tubular receiver opening. The mouthpiece has at one end a large, circular end portion where the player's lips meet the mouthpiece and at the other end an elongate tubular shank having a diameter suitable to be received within the mouthpiece receiver of the body of the particular instrument.
Sound production on brass musical instruments begins with the vibrations generated by passing air between closely positioned lips. The vibration production is commonly known as the “buzz.” The part of the brass instrument that focuses the lip vibrations or buzz is the mouthpiece. The buzz is created by blowing air through the lips while the lips are controlled by the player using isometric tension, beginning at the corners of the mouth, and flexing the embouchure muscles at varying tensions, depending on what pitch frequency is desired. Control over the pitches which are produced requires extensive practice toward the goal of achieving full sensory understanding of the control necessary to produce desired pitches. Historically, it has required extensive repetition to achieve the level of sensory understanding and control necessary to fully develop a traditionally proper brass instrument embouchure and sound production, at least in part because adequate training devices have not been available.
Mouthpiece buzzing, i.e., playing on just the mouthpiece of a brass instrument separate from the instrument itself, by holding the mouthpiece between the index finger and thumb of one hand and placing it directly up against the lips, has historically been the accepted method of practicing buzzing. The player would then reassemble the instrument in its traditional and complete form and attempt to recreate the buzz sensation and control with the mouthpiece inside the instrument's receiver. Unfortunately, once the instrument is completely assembled, the sensation is changed by the vibration transfer caused by direct and complete contact with the inside of the receiver, and only through extensive repetition and practice could a player begin to understand and control the transference of the buzz sensation from the mouthpiece alone to the fully assembled instrument. Moreover, it has been recognized that buzzing the mouthpiece separate from the instrument provides no guidance for pitch control. Efforts have been made to simulate the feel and buzz of an instrument attached to the mouthpiece without actually inserting the mouthpiece into an instrument, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,768,045, by utilizing a sound reflector and a mouthpiece mount to position the mouthpiece near the reflector. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,544 a mouthpiece holder in the form of a housing approximating that portion of an instrument normally grasped by the left hand includes means to mount a mouthpiece to simulate the mouthpiece mounted in a brass instrument. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,853,034 a brass musical instrument practice device is disclosed which comprises a length of tubing having a mouthpiece attached at one end and a tubular valve attached at the other end to simulate the mouthpiece mounted in a brass instrument. Other known devices, such as the B.E.R.P. (Buzz Extension and Resistance Piece), mount the mouthpiece on, but not in, a brass instrument using a screw tightened clamp surrounding the receiver tube. A similar device, known as the “Brass Buzzer” also mounts the mouthpiece on, but not in, a brass instrument by surrounding the mouthpiece with a ring which is attached to a lead pipe shank that seats within the instrument's receiver.
No known training device, however, actually mounts the mouthpiece inside the receiver of the instrument. As a result, all of the prior art devices lack at least one critical element of buzz development—namely, attachment of the buzz sensation to the exact and corresponding pitch frequencies unique to each individual instrument.
Accordingly, there is a need for a training device for a brass musical instrument which promotes buzz control over pitch accuracy and attack by providing means for inserting the mouthpiece within the receiver and, effectively, permitting the instrument to be the vehicle for marrying buzz control and accurate pitch reference.